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    The Better Life: Small Things You Can Do Right Where You Are
    The Better Life: Small Things You Can Do Right Where You Are
    The Better Life: Small Things You Can Do Right Where You Are
    Ebook123 pages1 hour

    The Better Life: Small Things You Can Do Right Where You Are

    By Claire Diaz-Ortiz

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    About this ebook

    Little ways to be you at your best, right where you are.

    From the can-do entrepreneur Claire Diaz-Ortiz, The Better Life is a motivational memoir about little changes that make all the difference.

    In winsome style, Claire offers vignettes from her life to yours. A top-level Twitter employee, world traveler, author, non-profit founder, and mom, Claire tries to make the most of every moment. In The Better Life, she shares stories and insights about balance, productivity, self-care, and other essentials for rocking it at life every day. 

    Take some advice from Claire: Say yes. Say no. Quit something. Take your mornings seriously. Make your weekends count. Write more. Worry less. Travel. Pray. Pause. Rest. Know your limits. Do Hatchi Patchi. Don’t beat yourself up. Be still. Be thankful. Be you, but your best.

    Read this book, and start living the better lifeyou’ve been meaning to.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMoody Publishers
    Release dateMay 18, 2015
    ISBN9780802493095
    The Better Life: Small Things You Can Do Right Where You Are
    Author

    Claire Diaz-Ortiz

    CLAIRE DIAZ-ORTIZ is an author, speaker, and technology innovator who has been named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company. She was an early employee at Twitter, where she spent five and a half years, and is the author of seven books, including Twitter for Good: Change the World One Tweet at a Time and Design Your Day: Be More Productive, Set Better Goals, and Live Life on Purpose. She writes a popular business blog at ClaireDiazOrtiz.com, and is the cofounder of Hope Runs, a nonprofit organization operating in AIDS orphanages in Kenya. www.clairediazortiz.com

    Read more from Claire Diaz Ortiz

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      Book preview

      The Better Life - Claire Diaz-Ortiz

      Author

      This is a small book with a big message.

      In these thirty-something vignettes, you’ll find a host of ways to improve life as you know it, right where you are.

      Every story in this short volume is a powerful, personal, prescriptive, and encouraging one. And each story offers a small way to instantly improve your current life. Sometimes I make it easy to see what you need to do to put one foot in front of the other, and sometimes it requires a bit more reflection to find the meaning at hand.

      Ultimately, each story gives a calm, clear message to millennial readers of all walks of life: Take charge of your life for the better, now. No matter your circumstances, you can make a positive difference in your life today. The Better Life is a call to arms for your better life, right where you are.

      I know that where you are may not be where you want to be. In fact, I hope that’s the case, in the same way I hope that I will get better and bolder and brighter with each passing day in this orbit.

      Each of the vignettes in this book will get you one step closer to that better life you’re dreaming of. Read, take action, and transform. It’s a happy road, and we’re on it together.

      Like most of us, I want to be happier. Whether it’s waking up with more spark or going to bed more satisfied with my day, I want to open my life to the opportunity for greater joy.

      As such, I love to read books about happiness. My writer pal Gretchen Rubin has written a few of those, and in one of them she recommends a small, powerful idea that has taken hold to become a big, strong force in my own life.

      That idea is to choose a word each and every year that represents the year you have in front of you. Rather, to choose a word for your year. (Oh, and take a cue from Gretchen: years don’t need to start in January.) Choose one single word that imbues the type of year you wish to have, one word that can serve as a guidepost for what you want in the season to come. A singular word you can always harken back to in moments of darkness and doubt. One word that informs your decisions, crystalizes your passions and priorities, and embodies you—the new you!—in the months ahead.

      Depending on the type of year you seek, there are many words that can do the trick. Words like Move, Pause, Breathe, Dance, Less, Family, Health, Travel, and Choose all hold a certain special sauce.

      The guidelines are simple. The word can be a verb or a noun. It can be a long word or a short word. But it is key that the word brings together everything you fervently hope to live and breathe in the year to come. One word to inform and synthesize the year you have ahead of you. One word to mean everything you want the year to be, and one word that will help serve as a guiding light when times get tough and you’re not clear on where your priorities are.

      A few years ago, my word of the year was Rest.

      It was a word that meant the world to me in that season of my life. I was harried and overwhelmed from a few too many years of corporate globetrotting, and I needed a daily reminder to do less. And so I did. Although my Rest might not have been as restful as the Rest that some might be able to enjoy (I saw nary a beach that entire year), my word still served as a key force in getting me to slow down. It helped me to make decisions, and to keep in mind what was really important when difficult choices arose.

      Should I go to that social event—or stay home? Should I say yes to what could be a great opportunity, or pass it up to wait for something better to come along? Should I travel to that work meeting—or call into it instead?

      When life and work calls for us to be busy, it is hard to slow down. However, by attempting to make this word forefront in my mind, I sought to make small strides that would lead to notable changes and positive transformation. I knew I wouldn’t be perfect. I knew I would never get it 100 percent. But I did know that by setting the intention, I could make some progress.

      In the end, I did. And you can, too. Set a word now, and watch your year rise up to take shape around it.

      If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: The early bird gets the worm.

      It turns out that cultures all over the world have concepts that convey the same idea.

      Morning people get more done. Morning people are more effective. Morning people win more often.

      The reality is that morning people do seem to get an awful lot accomplished, and even night owls have reported that short periods of morning waking have made them feel more productive, even if they really aren’t.

      As a self-professed night owl (or late chronotype) who has worked hard to get up earlier, I can vouch that waking up in the morning earlier can make you feel you’ve done more. In contrast, doing a lot between 1:00 and 4:00 a.m., like many a raging night owl, invariably makes me feel behind when I drag myself out of bed at noon the next day. Waking at 5:30 a.m., watching the sunrise, and literally feeling that you beat everyone at the first competition of the day—getting up—is something that just can’t be matched.

      There are many reasons to try your hand at getting up earlier. Here are my favorites:

      You get the best of you. If you’re generally sleeping enough and you aren’t suffering from health problems, then you should feel rested in the morning. In those first precious hours, you’ll have energy in abundance to do what you need to do. This is the golden hour of productivity, and by getting up early you can use it to the best of your ability to kill your to-do list and really get rocking.

      You get the best of others. I once heard someone say that people are nicer in the mornings because they haven’t yet had the chance to have a bad day. It just might be true, and you just might benefit as a result.

      You get quiet. Fewer people are around in the morning—in your house, in your office, and in the world at large. That means quiet, peaceful time for you to do what you need to do. Make the best of these moments.

      Getting things done early

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